On the one hand, I was surprised to learn that an EXFILNA had not ever previously taken place in Cádiz, an area with very active philatelic societies that have been organising philatelic events on a regular basis over the years.
On the other hand, Cádiz was undoubtedly a wonderful discovery for most of us who hadn’t been there before; a very pleasant city situated on a peninsula at the south-western tip of the country … accessed via a spectacular bridge, which was wisely featured on a stamp to mark the occasion.
In 2025, Cádiz therefore hosted the 63rd annual event of the National Philatelic Exhibition (EXFILNA) and the 29th JUVENIA, the National Exhibition of Youth Philately, which is held every two years.
With the philatelic community becoming less and less engaged and with fewer groups and associations having sufficient resources to organise such events, both exhibitions for the first time were held simultaneously in Teruel in 2023 (see article).
This philatelic event, organised by the Spanish Federation of Philatelic Societies (FESOFI) and Correos, with the invaluable support of the Sociedad Filatélica Gaditana, the local philatelic association, took place from November 5th to 9th 2025 at the Baluarte de la Candelaria, a former 17th-century fortification that is now used as a cultural and exhibition venue.
Unlike in previous years, when the event was spread across various locations throughout the city, this year’s exhibition was concentrated in the Baluarte’s entrance pavilions with the stamps fair, together with stands from Correos and the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (FNMT) set up in the vaulted casemates along the perimeter of the old fortifications. The large inner courtyard hosted a variety of presentations and activities.
As mentioned on previous occasions, this website specialises in variable value stamp issues; you can find more detailed information about the event and the related philatelic issues on other websites. I would just like to mention that for the EXFILNA+JUVENIA in Cádiz, Correos once again prepared and sold a large number of postal and philatelic products related to the city on its stand (images below). These included covers, postcards and postal stationery items, regular and personalised (‘Tusello’) stamps, a commemorative mini-sheet depicting the city hall, folders, special packs … and as many as 23 (!) commemorative, tourist, presentation and first day postmarks, some of which are depicted throughout this article.
And, of course, two new designs for variable value stamps or ATMs.
The special imprint in San Fernando
The philatelic service had planned a presentation of the ATM design dedicated to the ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’ at its base location, right next to the training ship itself, just as they did at EXFILNA 2022 next to the ship Mariñel (see article, published in VARIABLE 66). But this would have been too good to be true …
(English edition rewritten by J. Gareze – April 2026)
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